Direct Services

The community empowerment and economic justice program of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights seeks to build the economic power of people of color and low-income communities through legal advocacy and education. We provide direct services to low-income individuals starting businesses, mom and pop shops in areas where gentrification is a force for displacement, businesses hiring from the local community, including people with arrest and conviction records. By creating access points to legal resources traditionally out of reach for many marginalized communities, the Lawyers’ Committee assists individuals to develop sustainable businesses that invest back into the community, create local jobs, and provide goods and services to local residents. To date, LSE has assisted more than 2,000 clients.

We provide direct legal services to the community through Legal Services for Entrepreneurs (LSE) and the Financial Empowerment Program. We partner with organizations in Oakland, San Francisco, and the broader Bay Area to achieve equitable community development solutions that serve and empower diverse and low income communities of color.

Community Business Resiliency Project: Launched in 2014 in response to the increased displacement of low-income community businesses and residents, we provide legal services to strengthen and retain diverse small businesses (“mom and pop shops”) in commercial corridors of the Bay Area where gentrification is a force for displacement. The project focuses LSE commercial lease advisory services on low-income, immigrant business owners in the Mission and other areas of San Francisco and Oakland. For more information, contact us at lse@lccr.com.

STRENGTHENING SMALL BUSINESSES

Legal Services for Entrepreneurs

LSE provides free legal assistance to develop sustainable businesses that invest back into the community, create local jobs, and provide goods and services to local residents.